Luperca's Child
by She-Wolfe
Summary: What if your subcontious knew you were meant to be different? What if you thought your life sucked? What if something pushed you over the edge and you somehow willed yourself to become different? Well that is what happened to me. I'm Willow Haile, and this is my story.
1. Chapter 1

I step forward, the leftover leaves from last Winter crunching under my boots. The dark forest around me is eerily quiet. No birds or squirrels disturb the silence. Giant sequoia trees tower over me, seeming to watch expectedly. Light produced by the half moon manages to escape past the tree leaves and splash the lonely ground.

My breath comes out as short, ragged puffs of air. Running is so hard when you have a twisted ankle. I fell at least six times and now I have a cut on my palm. And it was all for nothing. The creature I was running from is standing before me, snarling with viciousness that I've never seen with my own eyes. Its a wolf.

I stumble backwards and my heel catches on an exposed root, causing me to fall on my butt. A surprised yelp escapes my lips. The wolf proceeds to me, growling and showings its several pointed teeth. I freeze to try and loose it's undivided attention. Unfortunately, it gets up in my face, and I flinch away from it.

It ceases growling and looks unblinkingly into my eyes. I stare back at it, taking in it's features. The tips of it's ears and toes are black and the rest of it's fur is a shiny silver. It's body is lean and skinny. Built for not strength, but speed.

The wolf leans forward and sniffs me. Then, oddly, it begins licking my cheek with it's warm, wet tongue. A smile and I hug the wolf, burying my face in the soft fur of it's neck.

_"This is what you need, Willow. A friend"_, the wolf asks in my head without moving it's mouth. It speaks in feminine and gentle tone. But it doesn't make sense. I have plenty friends and they all adore me.

"_Who? These people?"_ the wolf asks. Then my three best friends, Vanessa, Trixy, and Debby appear out of nowhere next to me and the wolf. Yeah, those are my friends. I don't need another one.

The wolf shakes it's head disapprovingly. "_Something is about to happen. Something that will prove that your 'friends' aren't as loyal to you as you believe"_, the wolf says solemnly.

But it's wrong. My friends are awesome! I trust them with my life. "Your lying!" I scream at the wolf. A single tear falls from it's blue eye. Everything around me becomes blurry and out of focus and soon turns to darkness.

My alarm clock blares in my ears, waking me from my sleep. I slap the evil device to turn it off and lay back down when the loud burden is gone, thinking over my dream. I have been getting that same dream a lot recently. It plays over and over in my head. Its such a strange dream. Shrugging inwardly, I get out of bed and stretch. My joints pop from being curled up for the whole night.

"Willow! Time to get up!" my mother calls up to me from downstairs. I grin, amused by my mother's joke. Ever since I got that stupid alarm clock my mother has been jealous of it, claiming she 'forgot' that I have it. I know that she just feels replaced by it. But her voice is so soft that it never could wake me up.

"I'm awake!" I yell back to her. The smell of bacon drifts up the stairs, motivating me to get dressed. I throw on a pink and white checkered button up shirt and roll the sleeves up to my elbows. Then I squirm into my skinny jeans, cursing when I fall on my bed. I brush on some blush to cover my freckles on my nose, put mascara on my eyelashes, and eye shadow that complement my blue eyes. I admire my work in the mirror and put on my platform sandals.

Strolling into the bathroom, I brush my teeth then comb my wavy blonde hair before putting it in a high pony tail. I go back to my bedroom and put some dangly pink dice earring in my ears then the matching necklace. Checking that I'm totally dressed, I go down the stairs and into the chrome styled kitchen.

"Good morning, sweetie", my mother greets me. She is wearing her black and white business suit and her hair is in a messy bun, all ready for work She gives me a half hug and sets a plate of bacon and pancakes in front of me.

I soak them with my favorite syrup. "Hi, mama." Yeah, I call her mama. I always have. I just call her mom in front of my friends.

My mother makes a cup of coffee and leans her hip on the counter. "Did you sleep well?"

I nod, my mouth too full to speak. I swallow and take a swig if milk. "What about you?" I ask her tiredly.

"Not good."

**I made this story all myself. Its not a fanfict. I just dont know where to post home-made stories. **

I set my hands on my hips mockingly. Oh gosh. My mother is a fashion designer and today she is supposed to show her idea. "You shouldn't be worried about that presentation. You'll do fine. Its the other people that should be worried because your going to kick them out the window!" I say enthusiastically.

She grins at me, her eyes crinkling from smile lines. "Thanks, Willow. But Ms. Peterson is getting ahead of me. She made this beautiful design the other day that consists of blue and green shades and one red strap. That, my dear, was gorgeous", my mother sighs and takes a sip of her coffee.

I frown, thinking of her own dress. The one she showed me a while ago was beautiful. How could anyone beat it? "Could I see the one your presenting?" I ask.

She scurries down the hall, goes into her office, and brings out a plastic bag. She unzips it and drapes the design over a chair. Its the same on she showed me before. Its a strapless, thigh-length party dress consisting of warm colors blurred together with a white belt across the torso and a white rose on the left side of the belt. It is a truly brilliant piece of fabric.

"Its perfect. There's no way anyone could beat you."

My mother's eyes get watery and she gives me a another hug. "I hope so. I really do."

I push my chair from the table and snatch my bag (that my mother designed herself) from its resting place. Its pretty heavy from all the textbooks and folders in it. I stayed up until two in the morning doing late homework. "Good luck. Love you", I blow air kisses at her and walk out the front door.

**Please review! Please, please, pleassse!**


	2. Chapter 2

The minivan in front of me swerves to the left, almost hitting my car. "Hey!" I honk my horn at the reckless driver. If I got in a wreck...Gosh, my mother would kill me. This car was expensive! Its a Chevy Volt, and my mother let me get a costume purple star pattern design on it. That costed extra.

Taking a deep breath, I make sure my seatbelt is still safe. Yep. I look out my windshield, seeing the sun rise above the trees. I sit back and appreciate the landscape.

Knightbell Cove, California truly is beautiful. That's where I live. Right next the sequoia national forest so we have a bunch of California's giants here and there. Everybody that lives here owns a large piece of the land so there's not really neighborhoods because every house is like a mile apart. It gets pretty lonely.

I turn my attention back to the road, realizing that I'm already driving into my school's parking lot. I chuckle to myself. Looks like I was functioning on auto-pilot. I find a place to park and get out of my car, slinging my bag onto my shoulder. I gaze at the sign on the main building that says 'Lanterson Highchool'. This school has been here for like forty years, and it still looks like a million bucks. The sidewalks don't have cracks in them, the buildings are freshly painted, the flower bushes are newly trimmed. Going to a private school has it's many advantages. At least the food doesn't taste like cardboard.

"Willow! Over here, girl!" Trixy, one of my best friends, says over to me. I look her way and wave at her. She's sitting at a picnic table with everyone else, waiting for the bell to tell us when to go to class. I join them but notice who else is sitting with them: Blake. My ex boyfriend who I recently dumped. He was being a real jerk so I broke up with him.

Pasting on a fake smile, I sit down with them all. "Hey everyone."

"Hi!" they all say as one.

"So your coming to Wayne's party tonight, right? I heard that he got a new hot tub!" Debby says enthusiastically. Oh yeah! A guy on the football team is having a party. Sort of like an after Spring Break party. He had one last year too. And this year is supposed to be even better.

I nod my head. "Of course I'm going! Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Okay, well I'm-", Trixy is cut off by the bell. We all hop up from the table. "Oh darn. Well I'm bringing a liquor bottle. Its the easiest way to make money", Trixy gloats, walking to her class. I stop dead in my tracks. The last time one of us brought alcohol to a party, we almost got caught. She better not add me in this time. I don't care for the money.

"Yeah, well I've got to get to class. There's a test in Science today, bye", I say to them all, walking to my first class.

Thank God I don't need anything from my locker. I have no more chances to be late again and I'm not in the mood for detention. Its always filled with the bad kids. And let me tell you, I'm not bad. I may talk back and be sarcastic sometimes, but every time I get in trouble, it is because of my friends. Either they blame it on me or they leave me behind.

Maybe because its because of the way I look. Because I'm blonde with wavy hair. And everybody suspects the blonde. But my freckles, blue eyes, and button-like nose should tell everybody that I'm an adorable, innocent angel. Because that's how angels look. But no. For some reason, everyone thinks I'm a bad kid.

I hurry to my class before I'm late, my sandals slapping against the tiled floor. The door to the Science room is still open and I let out a sigh of relief. I go in and sit in my seat at the back of the class. Having a seat in the back is like being royalty. Everyone is always asking to switch. I set my bag on the ground and pull out my Science folder and textbook.

_I wont bore you with all of the learning, tests, worksheets and crap, so I'll just skip to the unboreing parts. _

The bell rings, echoing through the halls and lifting the souls of every kid in a five mile radius. School is over! For today at least. Everyone in my English class, including me, stands up from their desks and head for the door that leads to our escape. I listen in on their conversations as I always do. Their all talking about Wayne's party tonight.

"What time are you going to Wayne's?"

"This is going to be awesome! I haven't been to a party in like a month."

"I'm bringing my bathing suit for the indoor Jacuzzi."

Were all excited for the party. I toss my bag over my shoulder and make my way towards my locker. I don't have and homework tonight, since its a Friday, so why carry books? After I abandon my school stuff I go to my car, thankful to see my beautiful, white, Volt again. If you haven't noticed, my car is my pride and joy. Especially the purple stars on the outsides of the doors.

I unlock my car and get into the driver's seat, starting the car. I take out my phone from my pocket and text Trixy.'Wen r u going 2 Wayne's?' I set my phone on the dashboard while I wait for her to text back. My phone bleeps and I snatch it up. (Trixy texts fast.)

She wrote 'At 8. I hav 2 do som makeup work 1st. Then I'm going'. I set my phone into my bag and drive home. So I have six hours of nothing to do before I go to the party. Hmm… I suppose I could go shopping at the mall. I did just get my allowance two days ago.


	3. Chapter 3

Humming a catchy tune, I steer the car into my driveway. Its very, very, long with a bunch of twists and turns. And its at least a half mile. Closed in by the forest on both sides.

You could say my home is very lonely and creepy. But I say its private and beautiful. Ever since I was a child I have loved the forest. Its so calm and peaceful. My mother bought me a professional camera with twelve mega pixels for my fourteenth birthday and I spent hours taking pictures of the nature surrounding our house. And they turned out pretty good.

But it was probably just the pictures' quality in stead of my talent that made them look nice. You could take a picture of a goat and it would look like a million bucks. Maybe that's what I can do with all my extra time. I would take a couple pictures of the new Spring flowers then go get my hair cut. Yep, that's the plan.

I push the button on my keychain to open the garage when I see my house come into view. The roof is slanted slightly inward. Windows made out of many smaller windows framed by polished wood reach the floor to the ceiling. Its a nice kitchel house. If you don't know what that is, look it up. The people that supposedly built this house copied it from this other house. But whatever. The only thing that matters is that our house looks exactly like that other house. Even the inside, which is very roomy and has almost no walls on the inside. Our bedrooms have only a wall and no door separating each of them. Only our bathrooms have walls and doors.

I drive carefully into the garage and take my key out of the car. I notice my mother's car is in the garage too. She's already back from her work? I feel my spirits falling all the way to the ground. The only reason I can think of why she would be home early is if she was fired or she quit...

I quickly open the door that leads into our house and look all around for my mother. The dish washer is running and there's a plate of last night's dinner on the wooden counter.

"Mama?"

When there is no reply, I walk up the stairs and peer into my mother's bedroom. There she is. Sleeping on her king sized bed with a content expression on her face. She's holding a turquoise paper in her one hand that's dangling over the edge if the bed.

Tiptoeing so I don't wake her, I take the paper from her figures and skim over the paragraphs. Apparently, my mother's design won. Over six thousand copies will be shipped and sold worldwide. And if all goes well and it sells evenly, my mother will get a twenty percent raise. I gasp at all the numbers I'm looking at right now. Damn, my mother has a really nice job. She now makes eighteen dollars an hour and she works from eight in the morning to seven at night. And she only gets Sundays off.

That's...one thousand, one hundred, and eighty eight dollars a week. My jaw drops. For being surprised by the amount and being surprised that I did the math with out the help of my phone's calculator. No wonder my mother is asleep. She probably passed out from the shock. Well no worries about money. Not like there was any in the first place.

I set the paper down on her nightstand and back out of her room, intrigued by how she is staying asleep with those many windows shining light into her room. I go to my room and dig around in my closet for my camera.

"Ah ha!" I found my camera under a box of old shoes that no longer fit me. I should give those to Good Will while I'm on my way to the party. You never know what good karma it could bring me. I grab the camera with one hand and drag the box over to my dresser with the other. Leaving it there, I go back to my closet for some sneakers. I find some blue and gray Reeboks, get some socks from my dresser, and put them both on.

I examine the shoes and realize that this is the first time I've ever used them. I need to go hiking more. I'm always cooped up at a friend's house or something. I put my camera's string around my wrist and pick up the box full of shoes. I exit my room and take cautious steps down the staircase. When I get to the bottom, I walk back into the garage and put the box in the trunk of my car. Good. Now that that's done with, I can go take pictures now.

I go out the smaller garage door and begin walking through the woods. I take in the scenery around me. If you just take a quick look of everything then you just see trees. But if you study one little thing at a time, you see all the details and little things that count. I gaze at a lone aspen tree. Its shorter and thinner than all the other sequoias around it. Its leaves are a light green and they are round except for the pointed tip. The bark of the tree is white with big black spots here and there. A couple of large rocks rest at the base of it with fresh moss growing on them. I notice a lady bug crawling on the moss.

Bending down, I aim my camera at it and get the right angle. I snap the picture and stand up to observe my work on the screen. It turned out better than I had hoped. I caught the lady bug at just the right moment. Right when it flew off the rock. So technically, it was an action shot. Bonus.

I save the picture and continue on my way. I hear a stream nearby so I follow the sound. I climb over boulders and rotting trees like I have every day of my life. Well that's how it used to be. I used to make my own trails, carve my name into the trees, know where every rock, cliff, and mini-swamp was.

But not anymore. I've forgotten all of that stuff. Ever since I started high school, I've acted all stuck up and prissy around my friends and have stayed away from the forests because my friends hate it. Always defying teachers and grown ups. Doing mean pranks and saying crude stuff. When in my head I'm thinking 'What the hell am I doing?' Good thing my friends don't like coming to my house. I would never act that way in front of my mother. My friends like my house, but they hate the nature. Their disgusted by it and they all claim to have 's why they always hang out at the mall in town and want to move to a city when they get older. And I act that way too, just because they do. I mentally scold myself for trying to be like them. I should be my own person. Not a copy-cat.

A fern bathed in sunlight catches my eye and I take a picture of it, not caring about angle since the light replaces the need for uniqueness. Looking ahead, I see the stream I heard. Its surrounded by algae-covered rocks and ferns. The water jumps and splashes over smooth stones. I walk to it and grin when I see fish swimming. Their salmon! The red kind.

I point my camera at one particular salmon and put my camera close to the ground so that the water will look shinier and the salmon will look blurry, and I take the photo. I look around for another thing to take a picture of. Seeing nothing interesting, I walk the edge of the stream down a hill. At the bottom, I find a few butterflies on the damp sand along the stream, probably sipping moisture from it. I recognize these butterflies. They are California sister butterflies. Their orange, black, white, and a little bit of red and blue.

Crouching, I zoom my camera in on a butterfly and snap the picture strait on. Yet again, there was no need for an angle. I stand up and back away, not wanting to disturb them. I turn around and start heading back home. Checking my phone, I see that two hours have already passed. That amazes me. I only took three pictures. I must of gotten so caught up in the nature that I lost track of time.

I hike back up the hill and stop to wipe the sweat from my brow. I'm in definitely need of exercise. The last time I went hiking was...four months ago? Yeah, four months ago with my mother. Feeling the presence of something behind me, I turn slowly and see a huge brown cat standing on a boulder. Its really fluffy with pointed ears, a short tail, and spots all over it. Its a mountain lion!

An undignified squeak comes from my throat and my hands stumble for the camera hanging around my neck. Finally, I get a grasp of it and take a quick picture of the big cat. It looks to me and hisses, showing off it's yellow fangs. And of course, me being the big chicken that I am, I turn the opposite way and run like death is chasing me. Which it very well may be.

Staggering down the sidewalk, I throw myself at the front door, open it, and rush inside. I lock the door and yell for my mother.

"Willow? Are you hurt? What's wrong?" She walks down the stairs and grasps my shoulders, looking for any sign of injury.

"I was out taking pictures of butterflies, and fish, and nature and there was this HUGE brown cat and it was on a rock so I took a picture of it and it hissed at me then I ran all the way home because I thought it was going to attack me", I say in one whole sentence.

My mother gives me a look of concern and hugs m. I hug her back, feeling queasy. "Can I see the picture if the big cat?" my mother asks. I give her my camera and she looks through the pictures. When she gets to the picture if the cat, she smiles but tries to hide it. "Willow, this is a bobcat!" She shows me the camera.

I take it from her and scowl at the picture. The 'mountain lion' is much smaller than I first interpreted it. It actually looks like a regular house cat besides the tail, ears, and spots. I look at my mother and blush.

"Well I didn't know!" I defend myself. My mother chuckles. "I know, baby. Its a good thing you ran, because bobcats can sometimes be dangerous like any other animal." She taps my cheek and walks over to her spot on the couch with her fashion magazines. It was just a bobcat? I watch Animal Planet and I think their was a special about bobcats last month. They prey on bunnies, small rodents, and birds. Not seventeen year old girls like myself.

Feeling stupid, I go to the fridge and pour myself a glass of lemon tea and slice up an apple for an afternoon snack. I walk over to the couch and sit by my mother. "So there's this party tonight. You know the linebacker on the football team? Wayne. He's throwing it and I'm invited. He had one last year and I went to it. I can go, right?" I munch on an apple slice, the sound of me chewing sounds loud in the silent house. My mother finishes reading her article in her magazine and twists in her seat to look at me.

"Yeah. I'm fine with that. And tomorrow night, lets me and you go to that fancy diner by the market in town that you like so much. In celebration of me winning the presentation today", my mother suggests.

I jump up from my seat, my bowl of apple slices spilling all on the floor, and hop up and down in excitement. I had completely forgot about that! "The Knightbell Blossom?"

My mother nods her head happily. And now we get to go to my favorite place to eat! I squeal in delight. "I'm so proud of you, mama! You worked so hard on that dress. In the end, you always win. Congratulations!" I say, giving my mother a kiss on the cheek.

She smiles and continues reading her magazine. "Thanks, baby. Have fun at that party." I pick up the fallen apples from the ground and toss them in the trash can. Going up the stairs, I check my phone for the time. Its four thirty nine. Maybe a nap, then shopping, then the party. I tug my curtains closed and plop down onto my bed and snuggle up to my fluffy green pillow. A nap sounds nice. I used a lot if energy running from that bobcat. And a lot of adrenaline. I yawn, sleep overcoming me. Yeah... Just a short nap...


End file.
